January 12 – Fort Lauderdale to Calgary

Weather – 25º, cloudy and some rain

Steps – 7,936

Humidity – 75%

The last travel day for this trip. The flight is at the reasonable time of 3:30, so no early alarm for us.

We took a bit of walk around the area where the hotel is and then had a bit of lunch.

The trip to the airport is only about 15 minutes so that is another reason I prefer Fort Lauderdale to Miami for cruises.

By 9:30 we were home. As usual, I’m glad to be home.

Thanks to everyone who followed!! Until next time!

January 11 – Fort Lauderdale

thud!

Weather – 27º, sunny

Steps – 10,211

Humidity – 70%

Today was disembarkation from Princess. All in all it was a great experience. exxtreemly different from Regent, but nonetheless...good.

We had to be out of our rooms by 8 and off the ship by 910. This is pretty standard in our experience. We have no where to be until tomorrow, so we head to the Sanctuary lounge for a small breakfast.

For the first time, we have decided to ‘self-disembark’. Typically, you chose a time you want to disembark a few days before the end of the cruise based on your plans for the disembarkation day. Most people are heading to the airport, some to a hotel, some live near and are driving home (although I don’t want to live in Florida, I’m jealous of that!) and a few are ‘in transit’ – staying on for the next cruise. Of the 4,360 people on this ship, 200 are staying on. Your disembarkation plans can have the ship take your large luggage off of

waddling away

the ship where it will wait for you in the terminal before passport control, but good if you don’t want to schlep large cases through the ship.

Having the ship take care of your luggage is a bit more of a production and you are sort of subject to when you selected to leave. If you self-disembark, as long as you are OK handling your own luggage and need no wheel-chair help, you can leave anytime you want from the time the ship is cleared (good if you have an early flight) until the last possible moment you can stay. Although we have large luggage, we are fine taking it off by ourselves. Regent doesn’t really encourage this…not sure why. It is very convenient. Had we been given this option on

sightseeing boat

Regent, we wouldn’t have been as late as we were to meet our ride because we would have just gotten off when ever. Really, we could have just left…no one is going to tell you to STAY whey then really want you off. Next time (although I plan to only have carryon) we will make this an option.

BTW…because we were so late getting off of Regent in Miami and were late meeting our ride, the ride company charged us a waiting fee. Regent ended up giving us future credit to compensate for this. They should have just paid the fee, but we will definitely be on Regent again, so the credit is fine.

Passport control was slick facial recognition. Infinitely simpler and faster than Miami. Sheesh…that Miami situation is nuts, especially when Fort Lauderdale is

Hat Trick...too big to get a good shot of

so slick. Maybe other terminals in Miami are better, but the 2 we’ve been through are brutal. I’d avoid Miami and go through Fort Lauderdale if that was an option. It isn’t really…some cruise companies use Miami, some use Fort Lauderdale.

We got in a very small Uber…one big case and one small had to sit in the front seat, blocking the driver’s view of the side mirror…seems like he doesn’t even need this mirror…we made it.

We were at the Riverside hotel on Las Olas blvd before 10. We were able to check in early for $50…fine…so much simpler than checking our bags etc…We arrived at this same hotel last year around the same time and checked in early without a fee…oh well.

on the grounds of the hotel

We headed to the pool to relax and watch iguanas fall from the trees. I thought iguanas in Florida only fell from trees in cold weather…today is lovely and warm – to us that is…maybe it’s still too cold for reptiles. A couple of times we heard rustling in the trees behind us before hearing a thud and watching a large iguana waddle away.

Around noon we thought we’d get lunch at the hotel restaurant on the canal but it was busy…we decided to get on the wait list and check out the action on Las Olas. Being a Sunday, there were lot of other people out. Last time we were here we arrived on a Tuesday which wasn’t nearly as busy.

We finally got a dockside table – right at the edge of the water for a front row seat for watch boats go up and down. These boats range from kayaks to 2 seaters, to sightseeing hop-on-hop-off, to mega yachts. Could have sat here all day.

The biggest boy we saw was called Hat Trick. We had to do some googling. All the interwebs can tell us is that it is owned by someone connected to the hockey world…duh!

After lunch we went back to the room to relax.

In the evening, we wandered up and down Las Olas again, stopping at Vino Wine Bar. They had Sunday night specials and a guitar/singer playing. We sat outside, for a spritz and a small pizza. The temp by now was about 24…it was lovely.

On the way back we found ourselves at Earls…yes Earls. Although we can still afford to miss a meal, that small pizza wasn’t quite enough, so we thought we’d check out how different Earls here is…it is EXACTLY the same.

And that…was that.

January 10 – AT SEA, Cruising The Atlantic Ocean

our balcony

our way of participating

Weather – 26º, sunny

Steps – 7,659

Humidity – 70%

Last day of the cruise and second last before we are home. At the end of each vacation, we are often asked if we are ready to come home. My theory is that I am ready to come home when I know the vacation is ending. If I were to be here for another 2 weeks, I wouldn’t be ready…it’s over in 2 days…so I’m ready.

Instead of our usual sea day pool time, we decided to visit a few places on the ship we haven’t been to yet.

Deal or No Deal

We started our personal ship tour at O’Malley’s. We have been here before for drink, but they offer a food menu a couple of times a day. We stopped in for a drink and onion rings. I am a sucker for onion rings…I’ve had better.

not nearly enough

Next, we stopped to watch Zumba in the piazza. This is a great place for it rather than out of the way in a fitness studio. This was a serious fitness class taught by Cole the cruise director. Sometimes resort fitness classes are more for entertainment then actual exercise…this class was for exercise. It was also entertaining to watch and looked like fun for the participants in as well. Next time, I’ll participate. I assumed this would be like the usual resort style mostly for entertainment...I was wrong!

BTW...speaking of the cruise director...we did some googling, seems like he makes upwards of $200,000USD! He does work his ass$$ff, every single day...but I was a bit surprised.

Deal or No Deal was in the piazza right after Zumba, so we stayed for a bit. It’s interesting that many (or all) bigger cruise ships have Deal or No Deal.

We then went to Name That Tune 90’s version. We thought we were doing well with 32 out of 40…nope…one team scored %100. One of the songs was Crash Test Dummies! We were just talking about them the other day.

pondering...NSYNC or BSB??

pool party

The last event for us for the afternoon was the farewell dance party at the pool.

By this time, I was ready for a nap. I included a photo of our balcony. It's big, but the furniture could be more comfortable. I guess they want you off your balcony and out somehwere on the ship.

Dinner was at Alfedo’s the pizza place again. Then we went to the farewell show. The most entertaining part of the show was the fight that almost happed involving the 2 people sitting next to us. They were mad about saving seats. It didn't get to the fisticuffs stage, but it was tense. The show was followed by a final go at the casino. I still had about $100 to spend. I started with

not colossal in my books

$40 in credits played for 3 nights and finally got my bank down to $0.

one last sunset

trying to get my steps up

January 9 – Georgetown, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

Weather – 28º, sunny

Steps – 15,406 (5,000 dancing!!! – I think I should do more dancing in general)

Humidity – 75%

I feel spoiled when I say that this is the third time that we’ve been to Cayman Islands. We did a lot of the tourist things on our last 2 visits, so today we decided to wander the front street and get a beer.

I was also in search of Wi-Fi. I wanted to download a new book for my Kindle, but ship Wi-Fi never gets along with our Kindles – too many log-in hoops to jump

Kindle and beer

through, so I brought mine with me.

We chatted with a bar tender (from Vancouver funnily enough) about our previous visits to Cayman. When we told him what we did on previous trips he said “yup, you’ve pretty much done everything.”

In addition to the rum punch we had at the port bar, we had conch fritters and a local beer at a place overlooking the water, served by a guy from PEI. Meeting a bar tender from Vancouver is interesting, but from PEI…now that is something!!

Georgetown is a tender port…this is a first for us this entire time we’ve been

conch fritters

away…no tenders on the Regent trip at all. Tenders are kind of charming the first or second time you do them…then they are a pain in the A$$. Usually, tenders are operated by the ship. In a few places (like 2 that I can think of in all the times we’ve been on tenders) they are local tenders – for the economy I guess.) In my

local tender boat

experience, local tenders are better…bigger and more comfortable – comfortable might be a stretch…you are still sitting on hard wooden benches, but the local ones are roomier.

One of our suite perks is priority tender embarkation. We’ve done this once before when we were on a Celebrity cruise. You show up at the suites lounge and someone takes you to the front of the line. On Celebrity, it was more obvious to those you were jumping in front of that you were jumping…here it’s less obvious. This is a nice perk. If there were no tendering ports that would be better, but if we have to get on a tender…it’s nice to not have to line up or get tender

candle light guitar

tickets – makes the whole tendering process more palatable.

aerialists

Once back on board we relaxed in the room after our arduous day by splitting a smoked bourbon cocktail in a can. Another suite perk is a one-time mini bar set up. We got a selection that we could have exchanged for what we actually wanted, but we drink plenty on the ‘outside’ that we don’t care what’s in our room. I’m not sad I don’t have more of these bourbon ones…not great.

Then we set out for something to eat. We can definitely use to miss a meal, but split a sandwich.

The pre-dinner entertainment was a candlelight guitar player at the pool…it was lovely.

sax player

Then it was dinner in the main dining room. Followed by a Broadway style show, then it was the ship’s White Luminescence party. About half of people were dressed in white – Chris has a light shirt; I had nothing remotely close to white.

This party was something else! It was in the 3-story piazza, with a band, a roving sax player, a pait of aerialists  and what they described as go-go dancers. The cruise director on this ship, Cole, is something else! He’s young (probably 35ish) from New Zealand, overflowing with energy and really pretty awesome. We’ve experienced many cruise

of course there had to be the locomotion

directors and he’s the best. He was one of the go-go dancers. He and a woman danced hard for at least an hour! We were on the second level and did our own share of dancing

Then we spent some time in the casino…I am still up about $100. By 1230 I had to go to bed…Chris stayed at the casino and joined me about half an hour later.

Christina – just trying to get the step count up with the dancing…it’s quite motivating!

January 8 – AT SEA, Cruising The Atlantic Ocean

half of the lunch set up

Weather – 27º, sunny

Steps – 5,723…yikes!

Humidity – 70%

Our sea day today started with a trip to the Sanctuary lounge to talk to the future cruise guy. We’re trying to plan something for end of May / beginning of June. We had some ideas for a Princess cruise, but it doesn’t look like it’ll work out on this ship…that’s fine. We’ve realized we like this ship enough to sail on this or its sister ship, but that’ll have to be another time.

ringing the bell!

The Sun Princess (sailing since 2024) and Star Princess (since 2025) are what Princess calls ‘sphere class ships’ – there is a giant sphere in the middle where there are shows, concerts etc. Apparently on these 2 ships things are all in the same places…bars, restaurants, pools, theatres etc. Their other older ships as a group position bars, restaurants etc. in the same spots. I can see how on ships this size predictability like that is super desirable. If we were to be on here again, we’d have less to learn and get lost less.

champagne wall!

Anyway…doesn’t look like we’ll be back any time soon, because the cruise we wanted isn’t available. We also talked to the future cruise guy about onboard booking promos…they have basically nothing we are interested in. Regent’s book on board deal is a reduced (minimally) fare, while Princess’ fare is reduced (maybe) it includes a lot of other ‘incentives’ that sound to us a bit time-shareish-scammy. We passed on everything book onboard. We don’t know what we will do in the spring but know it won’t be on Princess.

We found semi-shade spots at the pool and hunkered down for the rest of the morning/afternoon. I got myself a bircher-muesli in the Sanctuary lounge, so I wasn’t hungry and Chris…well…I think I’ve mentioned his breakfast habits. The Sanctuary pool buffet is perfectly fine for lunch, so we didn’t need to leave the

from a different hole

pool area for lunch.

We also stayed long enough to get a champagne from the ‘champagne wall’. There’s a bell you ring, and a white gloved hand comes out of one of 3 holes in a plant covered wall with a champagne! Cool!

There was live music in the Piazza when we wanted our pre-dinner cocktail, so we headed to that. As it turned out it was very country and very American/military tribute…fine, but not our taste. We left and found ourselves at the casino.

We had a bit of onboard credit left and Princess (different from Regent) allows it to be used in the casino. I ended up winning about $60!!! This was won using my credit, so really, I walked away with $100.

I need one of these for home!

Dinner was at another reservation required restaurant. We both had steak – it was good. Last night at a different restaurant we wanted a glass of the New Zealand sauvignon blanc…although it was on the menu, they didn’t have it. We thought we’d try again tonight…nope, they are out. No surprise, no different from last night and really no big deal. What was different, was how they handled it.

Celtic duo

The waiter told the wine guy who then came over to apologize and offer a different NZ sauvignon blanc – great!!!

After dinner we checked out O’Malley’s, the Irish bar. There was a guitar guy playing. I had a Heineken Zero – this was very real beer like. I’m not a regular Heineken drinker, but I doubt I’d every know it was non-alcoholic.

Lastly, was a trip to the Sphere. A Celtic duo was playing a 16+ show. We only stayed for a few songs, one of their songs was a bit dirty, but you actually had to listen...do teenagers even pay attention?? Maybe to dirty songs they do. 

January 7 – Roatan, Honduras

Weather – 27º, sunny

Steps – 8,713

Humidity – 80%

Honduras…country #107!

the rainforest right down to the water

We tried visiting Honduras last year, but the sea and weather conditions kept us away. Today we made it. The weather was good – a bit of rain and overcast. Good thing we had a brewery tour booked…mostly indoors – it did rain at one point when we were at the brewery, but we were under cover. I guess this is what keeps this place so lush – everywhere we looked today was lush, thick vegetation.

I keep forgetting Honduras is in Central America. Roatan, where we are today, is an island, but the country is mainland Central America.

Mainland Honduras (pop. 9.6 million) is primarily an agricultural economy, but Roatan’s is 75% tourism.

so many options

Today we visited the Roatan Island Brewing Co. This is about a 15-minute drive from the port, which is nice, because we are on the tiny ‘island’ busses. The brewery is in the middle of the rainforest and is very charming. There are picnic benches and tables made from old wooden barrels, some under cover and some nestled into the forest. 

snacks and drinks

As soon as we arrived, we were given a run down of the 13 beers/drinks they make. Each person chose the 4 that we wanted to try - these are served with a few pieces of sausage, a couple of pretzel bites, mustard and sauerkraut. My favourite was the blackberry, jalapeno gose – not too spicy, more vegetal, and sour. The way you chose is by putting your name and selections on a slip of paper, the beer is delivered to the table, and the name on the slip is read. One taster of 4 is brought for ‘Chris’…my Chris wasn’t the only one to raise his hand…funny.

Mark the owner/guide

We sat with 4 other guys from the UK and talked beer, travel and Chris talked soccer…the universal language.

After about 45 minutes of drinking, eating, and chatting, the tour began. We’ve been to many a brewery tour, and this was for certain the best. Mark, the owner/tour guide was super informative, entertaining, and engaging. We mostly sat on benches and crates while he talked – this was nice. Eventually we followed his to where the tanks were for one last look.

ordering to-go

Then we did some shopping and got a ‘to-go’ bus beer. On the way back Alani, the guide who up to now was a great, told us a bit more about life on Roatan and then all about the noni fruit that can cure cancer, prolong life, and helped her get pregnant. 2 minutes on this topic could have been fine, but hearing about this for most of the way back was too much! Most people tuned her out.

Before we got back to the port we had a 5 minute shopping stop…we bought some Honduran chocolate.

Back at the port, we weren’t exactly looking for any more beer, good thing, because all there was here were shops – odd for a port.

drink delivery

Once we got back, we headed up to the Sanctuary pool to listen to the guitar player and for a snack.

This it was a visit to naptown before dinner.

We visited the Sanctuary lounge for our

chocolate factory

 predinner cocktail. Nibbles are available, but we tried to decline…our server misinterpreted our ‘no thank you’ for please bring us a huge cheese plate and an overflowing plate of chips!

We watched the predinner show “Viva, la Musica” – a Latin themed high-energy production. By now we have figured out the reserved situation and got a great seat.

Dinner was at the ship’s seafood place…good, but way too much food.

After dinner we listened to another guitar player in the ship’s Irish pub where we witnessed something we have NEVER seen EVER on a ship (or elsewhere for that matter)…2 women, drinking Guiness, in the corner, laughing and talking, and KNITTING! This was fantastic…although knitting and I aren’t friends, this inspired me to try again.

Viva la Musica!

Sunsational!

Then we hit the dance floor for one song enroute to the pool deck for the end of their Sunsational deck party. By this time it was after midnight so that was that.

January 6 – Cozumel, Mexico

Weather – 28º, sunny

Steps – 11,708 (4,000 of those dancing!!)

Humidity – 70%

We woke up just as the sun was coming up this morning – a lovely welcome to Mexico. We’ve been to Cozumel a couple of times before, so our plan for the day was to take it easy and head in on our own.

We were in no rush to get off the boat, so we drank our coffee on the balcony watching the other ships come in.

Three Amigos and our ship

After running the gauntlet of duty-free shops, we found a primo spot right against the water at Three Amigos – a restaurant/bar overlooking the water and ships. We had nachos and a couple of Sol beers. It was good when got there when we did because not long after we arrived it was full.

There are 3 ships at our pier with 7 in town all together today. We figured the 3 ships at our pier totalled around 9,000 passengers.

Pancho's Backyard

After Three Amigos, we wandered the shops and restaurant area of the pier. We weren’t really looking to stop anywhere else, but Pancho’s Backyard was charming and enticing. We sat at an outdoor area of the restaurant over-looking the water with our feet in sand…lovely. We had $15 giant margaritas. We thought this was a good price considering margaritas at Three Amigos were 25USD! This is why we had beer there!

The distance to the ship was about a 5-minute walk.

lovely candle-light concert

We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the port activities from our balcony which by this time of day was in the shade.

Pre-dinner we visited the Sanctuary lounge for a champagne and an enormous bowl of nuts – we certainly didn’t need nearly as much as they gave us. The guitar player took his break shortly after we arrived, which seemed typical.

We had dinner reservations at the Italian place, but not until after the 7:00 Silent Disco!

delicious burrata appetizer

Tonight was 80’s theme night – not just the Silent Disco, but a sing along, a couple of trivias, and a couple of other dance parties. Plenty of people are dressed in 80’s costume! It was too bad we had our reservation tonight because that conflicted with some of the events…no problem though, because dinner was terrific.

The Silent Disco was fun, but not as fun as the first night. Cole, the cruise director, DJed while giving commentary the first night – he is pretty funny and entertaining.

The Italian dinner was as expected, which was pretty darn good.

After dinner we checked out a few of the other ships events, including a ‘candle-light concert’ – WOW, the place was packed. We got there toward the end and heard a few songs…the musician was great.

January 5 – AT SEA, Cruising The Atlantic Ocean

Weather – 25º, sunny, especially lovely when in the shade and a bit of cruising breeze

Steps – 7,843 (silent disco wasn’t until 11…I was a pumpkin long before then!)

Humidity – 60%

I remember the Princess beds from the last time we were on a bunch of years ago…they are super comfortable (better than Regent) but small…as in short, a bit narrow, and I’m not tall – but sooooo comfortable!

It was a sea day, and there was brunch in the Sanctuary restaurant. Dennis told

sabering

us all about it yesterday, and although Chris isn’t a big breakfast guy, he can’t turn down a mimosa (or a ‘grimosa’ as Dennis called the one he made with grapefruit) and we went. The Sanctuary restaurant is calm, unhurried, and spacious. We both had a few things from their buffet and ordered from the menu…I had 1 eggs Benedict and Chris had 2 fried…that’s all we need – the next feeding isn’t far off.

We wandered through the main buffet area, and I’m glad we have access to the Sanctuary restaurant. The main buffet is staff served, which is sooo civilized (not to mention hygienic) but makes things take much longer. You can’t just take a couple of this and one of that, you have to convince the server that you don’t want a whole plate…just a bit – I hate wasting food and feel I have to finish everything I have.

sabered cork with some bottle intact

Then we checked out the Sanctuary lounge…a quiet, calm, unhurried, and spacious area with a great view of the wake where they have a coffee bar, and booze bar, light snacks and a few staff to help with dinner reservations, excursions, and general questions. We had a question about the show seating.

snack, guitar, drink, sabering

We knew we were supposed to have reserved seating because of our package, but that didn’t seem to exist last night…we got it sorted…the main ship shows have reserved, the guest entertainers (which last night’s were) don’t.

Then it was pool time. The main pool is super busy (no surprise at all) but we have a Sanctuary pool. It was busy, but we were able to find loungers in the almost shade…it’s an Olympic event trying to predict how the shade is going to be and where the sun is moving to. We try to add the direction of the boat, to the direction of the sun, and the side of the ship we are on.

The Sanctuary pool is (like everything Sanctuary) calm, unhurried, and spacious. Nice to relax, but for ‘action’ not so much. There was a DJ, and a guitar player, but no uncha, uncha, uncha like at the main pool. I’m fine with calm, unhurried, and spacious, but a bit of uncha now and again would be OK. It’s a Goldilocks situation.

Maid of the Sea

The Sanctuary pool has a small buffet of very tasty snacks that we made lunch out of the perfect amount of food (there were even plenty of veg!)

A short nap preceded us leaving the room before 5! Anything that happens before 6 (or even 7) must be pretty special for us to leave the room for. Basically, if you want to find me on a ship around 5/6, I’m in the room…either napping or enjoying the balcony or getting ready.

The activity that got me out of the room before 5 was a champagne sabering in the Sanctuary lounge. Chris thinks we’ve seen this once before, but I can’t remember. Anyway…it was very cool. We had a small taste of the champagne, a ‘Sea Legs’ cocktail.

Then we checked out O’Malley’s Pub…Chris found himself a Guiness (in a can, but still a Guiness) and I had a ‘Maid of the Sea’ – very tasty.

All of a sudden, we saw a wave of humanity passing by, and thought… “interesting, did something just let out?” then we saw another wave and realized they were all going to Fiera the show we were planning to see. Even though we had reserved seats, even those were limited, so we said goodbye to Derrek our bartender and joined the flow of people.

another 3er

Good thing we went when we did…we got good seats, but 10 minutes later and they were gone. These reserved seats are released 5 minutes before show time…ha! There was an open seat beside Chris, but for the most part the reserved (and everywhere else for that matter) was PACKED! The designers of this ship obviously made this theatre this size for a reason, but wow, to me it could be 20% bigger…but…it isn’t revenue generating, so…

The show was a Broadway style show, with singing, dancing, and a bit of a story. It reminded us of & Juiliet, that we recently saw in New York, in that it used familiar pop songs. Ship shows are only about 45 minutes, so before 8:00 we were out, looking for the next crowd to join.

The Captain was doing his welcome in The Piazza at 8…perfect…we wouldn’t ever seek this activity out, but right place…They were passing out champagne for a toast. It was hard to get one and as we have a

here we are

drinks’ package, we ordered a fresh one from the bar. The package we have limits drinks to $20 or less, which is basically every drink save for the very top shelf ones. The usual champagne is $15; there are a couple extra special champagnes in specific bars/restaurants for $20. I haven’t had one of those yet, but I am all for getting my money’s worth. As far as I’m concerned…all champagne is special.

Sanctuary Lounge events

We planned to go to Alfredo’s the ship’s pizza place for dinner. Based on the crowds, we thought we’d better get our names on a list because we’d probably have to kill some time…nope. No problem getting in. In fact, the guy at the front joked about how busy they weren’t. Apparently this place is busier at lunch

We shared a pizza (New Yorker, basically peperoni), a salad (misto), and a dessert (cannoli – not good). That was plenty of food. According to David our waiter from Dominican Rep, the Hawaiian is
the most popular – my fav!

After dinner we wandered through the casino. Smoking is allowed in the casino which is so annoying to me I may never gamble – a good anti gambling strategy. It doesn’t seem to stop many people, because the place is plenty busy. Chris ended up staying, I went to bed.

There was another silent disco, but it was at 11…by 11 I was flossed, brushed and tucked into bed.

Diana - yes, the bathroom is great, especially the separate toilet room with sink

Dbitty - thanks for reading!